HomeCryptoBitcoinBitcoin: hashrate record thanks to 500,000 new ASICs

Bitcoin: hashrate record thanks to 500,000 new ASICs

The hashrate of the Bitcoin network continues to rise, setting new records almost weekly. The new ATH is 95.13 Exahash/s and dates back to September 11th.

Starting from the end of July, the hashrate had stabilised just below 80 EH/s, but by the end of August, it had exceeded that threshold. The previous record was set on September 8th with 89.56 EH/s. It is worth noting that only six months ago, in March and April, the average was around 45 EH/s, so yesterday’s peak more than doubled the average of just six months ago (+60% compared to June).

The difficulty is also at an all-time high, due to four consecutive rises from the beginning of August. While in mid-August the difficulty was 9.98T, now it is 11.89T (+20%).

bitcoin hashrate record

This increase in difficulty, which occurs every two weeks, is certainly due to the rather low average time per block recorded, well below the ideal time per block chosen by the Bitcoin protocol, which is set at 10 minutes.

Hashrate bitcoin to the moon thanks to the new ASICs

According to some estimates, more than 500,000 new ASICs have been acquired and activated in the last 3 months. The new models that arrived on the market in the summer have an average hashing power of 55 TH/s.

Considering that the 35 extra EH/s of the Bitcoin network compared to June are due only to these new ASICs, and recalling that 1 EH/s = 1 million TH/s, then more than half a million of these machines have been activated in the past 3 months.

This means that ASIC manufacturers such as Bitmain, Canaan, InnoSilicon and MicroBT could set new sales records, considering that these ASICs cost between $1500 and $2500 each. In addition, many manufacturers have already exhausted their autumn pre-orders and currently do not allow ASICs to be purchased.

According to an analysis by the TokenInsight startup, the difficulty will continue to grow and by the end of the year, it will reach 15 trillion with the hashrate that will soon exceed the psychological threshold of 100 EH/s for the first time in history.

Four mining pools, namely BTC.com, F2Pool, Poolin and AntPool, together hold more than 57% of the hashrate. The total number of mining pools that have managed to mine at least one block in the last seven days is still several dozen, which guarantees good decentralisation.

Halving earlier than expected?

Last May the bitcoin halving was estimated for May 20th, 2020. Today, 4 months later, the latest projections have anticipated halving to May 6th, 2020.

However, according to some tools that consider the hashrate and the influence on the average times per block, in the coming months, the date of the halving could be anticipated even further, moving to the beginning of May. According to the bitcoinclock website, in fact, the halving will take place on May 2nd, 2020. This date could change considerably if the hashrate continues to rise at this rate.

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